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Season's Greetings!

As Christmas and Winter Holidays approach we would like to make a small present to our devoted fans who still wait for Totem Tribe 2 release. No, this is not the game release unfortunately, we will make an announcement regarding the game state a bit later, but hopefully this little present will be enjoayble too.

Totem Tribe 2 will take place on planet Teya and we've created a detailed picture of this planet and made a wallpaper for your desktop out of it.

In the actual game you will see this planet image in the very beginning. When you start the game - you will be asked in what part of the world you would like to start your adventure - you will be able to pick Moderate Grasslands, Tropical Jungle, Equatorial Desert, or Snowy Tundra.

P.S. If you decided to put that wallpaper on your desktop - we would appreciate if you let us know about that in comments to this news post : )

Comments

The screen sizes for this wallpaper, will those same screen sizes be available in the actual game as well? I have a wide computer but TTG was not built for wide screens. I would really like to play this in wide screen that fits my computer.

Does the starting location impact your character, or the story in any way? Do you get specific boosts/advantages for starting in certain locations?

will this game have a set number of quests based on this world map view, and when those are done, then TT2 is also done? Will you then start working on TT3 or just stop at TT2? Or will you add new locations to the TT2 world map? Or will you add new planets with new world maps? Will the world map spin to see the continents on the other side? Will there be a collectible gem rainbow road that leads to new planets if the game expands beyond this first initial planet?

Basically i want to know how long term TT2 the mmo is going to be around. I hope it just grows and grows and grows. it's one of my favorite games ever! I am so very excited for the launch of this game!!! Keep up the good work & thanks for making such an awesome game, and for making sequals to that amazing game!!!

First of all this planet on wallpaper is not a world map. It's a sketchy picture of the planet only to allow you to select zone of the planet where you want to start. The actual world map is huge. You can take a screenshot of world map in this old news post:http://www.enkord.com/forum/blog.php?b=263

Screenshot there only pictures a tiny fraction of the world map. Actual world map will be thousands times bigger than what fits that screen. You will have to explore world map somewhat in a similar way like you explore levels in original Totem Tribe uncovering new locations with quests and adventures, new spots with strategic resources, new great places to build new villages and also neighbour villages and countries of other players.

TT2 is planned as online game so if it will have enough players and will be profitable - it will basically never be done - we will be adding new quests, locations, items on monthly basis. TT2 designed to last forever or at least until you loose your interest That's why we plan to release unfinished alpha version and expand and polish the game with updates while you are playing it. In this scenario TT3 is not an option - we can improve and grow TT2 instead.

Starting location will have no impact on your character, it won't have impact on your main story line, however it will impact on your starting village and on side quests. I.e. if you start the game in Tundra - your village will be among snowy mountaints and fir trees, different climatic zones will have variations in strategic resources too. Also the starting place will impact on your physical location. For example if you and your firend both start in the same zone - you will have greater chances to be neighbours in the game.

As for the resolution - yes, Totem Tribe 2 will support different screen sizes - big, small, wide, narrow, no problem.

Ok so now i have a couple more questions about the starter location globe.

So both the very top and very bottom are snowy tundra locations, correct? If i choose the north tundra, and my friend chooses the south tundra we wont be neighbors?

Will we have a better chance of being neighbors if we choose the same landmass of a certain type of area? i.e. the desert seems to have several land masses that make up it's general center ring. do each of those land masses represent an area to start from? or is each desert continent clickable to start from? for instance if i want to start on the pyramid landmass, and my friend on the sphinx landmass, is that possible?

Also, i can't tell the difference between the jungle and the grasslands. Will that be made more clear in the rendering at launch? or will there be a info bar that tells you what location you are hovering over before you click? Or will it ask you to confirm the selection of "area name/area type" after you click on an area?

Will each area give a few screen shots of that starter area's location as a visual reference before you make your final choice? Meaning, if i want to start somewhere green, but am unsure if i want jungle or grassland, will there be a comparison view before we make the choice?

Arctic and Antarctic are uninhabitable, the other 7 will be presented to you as a list and while you choose it, appropriate part of the planet will be highlighted on planet image.

All those landmasses, totems, pyramids or the planet image are pictured just for fun, it doesn't mean that you start near the pyramid (but you might find a pyramid eventually if you start in the desert).

Yes, both of you will have to choose Northern Tundra to be closer to each other.

Jungle and Grasslands does not look very different like say Grasslands and Tundra because both are green. But if you take a closer look you will see that Jungle is lighter and have palm trees, while Grassland is a bit darker and have different trees and mountains. In the actual game will be easy to distinguish. But when you choose zone, whole zone will be highlighted so it will be easier to see the difference. And since you don't click of the planet the starting place, but rather pick the zone from the list, if will be clear enough of what will happen.

If I become neighbours with one of my friends and I need to go into battle and ask my friend to help me in the battle, will we both have to be playing at the same time, because some of my friends are in different time zones.
Also will TT2 remain as a point and click game or will we need to use the keyboard in game play.

Finally - wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year :-)

It looks wonderful, thank you for posting this before Christmas. Happy winter holidays for you!
So, will I have the same quests, maybe in a different order, no matter where I start? I suppose the strategy will be slightly different, depending on the features that I am going to choose from the beginning. I also hope that I will be able to maintain the multiplayer interactions to minimum and still be able to play fully.
Another thing, the controls, please make a game playable entirely by mouse, many great games have been ruined by the controlling interface.
When are you going to release it?

Ok, slightly confused about the uninhabitable locations, Arctic and Antarctic.

I assume this mean that you can't choose them from the beginning to start your original village from, correct? Does this mean those areas have no gameplay at all? or does it mean the game quest progress goes there but no building go there? i.e. only your lead character goes to that location and thus no building or fighting options are available for that location?

Also, how likely will it be for my friend and i to become neighbors? If we choose the same start location (northern grasslands) and complete all necessary character creator prep at the same time will we be more likely to be neighbors? What if we created our characters days or months apart, but in the same location, would we still possibly be neighbors?

What if you don't like the neighbors you have? will there be a way to change your neighbors?

anneer,
The game will be running in real-time no matter if you are online of offline (i.e. people will be gathering resources, workers will be constructing ordered building, buildings will be producing ordered units, etc.), therefore battles can happen even if you are offline - if your village have army, they will defend any attacks automatically without your attention. Therefore if your friend wants to help you in battle, he or she can send reinforcements to your village and go offline. Those reinforcement units will help you defending your village. This way no need to be online at the same time.

And ofcourse TT2 will be perfactly playable with mouse only. Controls will be pretty much the same as in original game, but there will more new windows and buttons due to increased features. We will try to explain them in detail though. There will be comprehensive tutorial which will help you to learn all the new stuff.

vivia,
Yes, main story line quests will be pretty much the same no matter where you start, however there will be some optional stuff that will depend on your starting location.

Speaking about multiplayer - the game will be desined to be pretty much open ended - there will be at least 6 different victory conditions to suit different play styles. One of that victories is quest victory - it is achieved when you complete main story line. In other words acheiving quest victory is pretty much the same like beating original Totem Tribe. You can achieve that victory all alone no problem. All your interaction with other players will be limited to arranging proper defense of your village against random attackers - you don't even need to talk to anyone.

Other victory types might require interaction with other players. For example to achieve Economics Victory you will have to build a huge and very expensive building called Wonder of the World to show whole world the riches and prosperity of your country. In order to build it - you will need a huge amounts of resources, thus you will have to become a successful merchant. And since market in TT2 allows to trade among real players, that can be called multiplayer interaction.

Speaking about "when" I will make a news post later about current state of the game and our release plans.

An81angel,
Arctics and Antarctics is basically a fancy names for "walls" in the world map. The world map will be cyclic horizontally, but we wanted to limit it on top and bottom. Noone can access those areas.

To increase your chances to be neighbours you will have to start the game in the same zone at the same time. The longer delay between your starts, the further between each other you will be.

If you don't like your neighbour you will have all the multiplayer options at your disposal If you can tell me why you would not like your neighbour, I will explain the possible options.

Neighbor Example A: I just start playing but my neighbor has a head start of a day or so to build resources. He then sees my little noob island and decides to attack before I have built up my army enough to defend. Then they continually attack destroying my new buildings and i lose resources trying to rebuild. What is there to be done for early on players trying to get a handle vs dominant players trying to smash as many noobs as possible?

Neighbor Example B: I don't know what the chat system will be like in game, but what if you have a neighbor that continually goes to your village and says lots of mean nasty verbal abuse bad language things to you all day every day? Even with a chat filter players get around it and still say bad things to hurt players. How do I get away from a neighbor like that?

Neighbor Example C: The whinny neighbor always asking for help. Begging all day long about how hard the game is, that they need my character/army to come in and do their game for them. fight their battles for them. stop their enemies/other players from killing them. This type of player may also see that I have a special item mall item and they will beg constantly for me to gift them the same item mall item, or something else from the item mall. How do you get away from these players?

How many neighbors can you have in game?
Do the people on your friends list automatically become a neighbor?
Can you swap out a bad neighbor for a cool person on your friends list in the same general area?

I personally am an item mall kind of player. I like having cool stuff that not your average player can get. I don't have a lot of extra cash and i hate players that beg for stuff that i have that they don't have. it ruins the game play experience. I tend to avoid other players and do solo stuff, even though there are some great players out there that i would love to interact with and help out. how do i find a balance using the neighbor features you hinted at?

Thanks for the detailed responses they are helping me understand the game much better! Keep up the good work.

An81angel,Example A:
1. The game will place new players evenly, therefore all your neighbours will start the game at roughly the same time and will roughly the same army and resources, thus starting conditions will be fair.
2. There will be 1 week of beginner protection when you start, thus you will have a week to get used with the game and build up your defences.
3. Defending will be much easier than attacking. There will be numerous of cool defensive buildings - towers, wall, stash, not to mention your army.
4. Destroying buildings of other players will be even harder than attacking. You will need siege units which are expensive and available later in the game.
5. Finally there will be items which grant temporary protection from all attacks so you can use it in order to rebuild in worst case scenario

Example B:
1. There will be ignore list so you can easily ignore any abusive or insulting person.
2. If someone not just annoying but insults you, there will be a report to moderator button. You just click it and your conversation is sent to moderators automatically. That person will be punished by silencing or even banning his/her account.

Example C:
1. Like I said in previous example - ignore list will solve this problem easily.

Neighbours is just people closest to you, they are not special in any way, they just people you have to deal with first cause they are closest to reach and can be the most useful to you or the most annoying due to their close proximity.
Unfortunately, if you want to change neighbours, you will have to restart the game in a different place. You can't swap people cause the game will be made that way so people in the close area start roughly the same time as you, thus have relatively even conditions. If someone started earlier, he will have way more resources, bigger army, more buildings, and thus can defeat you easier. Such people are placed further to offset their obtained power.

jeresandy,
We do realize that a lot of TT2 players will be casual players who are not interested in battling with others players and will prefer to play the game like TT1. For such players or those who prefer to play solo we have made one special feature.
In the early game you will be able to choose polity for your tribe. Polity is basically a set of bonuses and drawbacks. You can choose between Communality and Leaderism.
- Communality is a polity for casual and solo players - it brings you 300% increase in defenses of your village, 50% of your storage cannot be plundered, but you will have only 30% of your potential when you attack other players. Therefore if you play solo, this polity is perfect for you cause it makes you uninteresting target for other players who want to attack you to get some free resources or just for fun - they will waste too much troops on you.
- Leaderism is the other side of the medal - it is made for all those people who want to fully engage all multiplayer features. You can switch from Communality to Leaderism later in the game if you feel strong enough.

We will make everything possible to make this game enjoyable to all kinds of players.

An81angel,
Regarding your player interaction question.
The best way to utilize player interaction is to find or create a good alliance. Alliance is a group of people that joined together to reach a common goal. That goal could be arranging common defense against annoying beggars and looters

But usually alliance is a groop of friendly people. Anyone can make an alliance and invite there those people you want. You as an alliance leader can invite only serious and kind people. There will be some nice tools like shared diplomacy - you can arrange unions or non-attack pacts with other alliances. You can also levy tax from all players in the alliance - this is useful when someone in the alliance was attacked badly and needs resources to rebuild the village - all alliance members can pay taxes and those tax transfered to the member in need.

Finally alliance will have a separate chat, so if you take only nice people in it, it will be a nice place to talk

Oh, and items in the game won't be transferable, so less things to beg for beggars

Wow, thanks Berserker, you cleared up a lot of issues for me. Merry Christmas Eve!

to jeresandy:
I have had a lot of bad experiences with mmo's in the past, and those bad things made me quit those games. I love TT, and TTG so i want TT2 the mmo to be amazing, with little to no bad experiences so that I never get frustrated and leave.